The Stubborn Prince
by Emil Steilsson -Icey
Summary: A fairytale story I wrote for Creative Writing. Prince Lukas has come of age to be married, however due to the excessive amount of people asking for his hand, he put forth a condition: He would only marry someone whom his younger brother, Emil liked. (HongIce if you squint, Den/Nor/Eng)


Once upon a time in ancient Norway, there was a King by the name of Sigfrøðr (zigfrithur), who had two beautiful princes. The oldest one, Lukas, was beautiful in the mysterious sense. He showed little emotion, conveying his kind nature through action rather than expression or by speaking. Lukas was of marrying age, and was highly sought after by various suitors of both genders. However, Lukas had one condition for whom He decided to marry, and that was that he would only marry someone who his beloved little brother, Emil, liked. Emil was normally a very nice boy, though he was very cold to strangers. He didn't really want his brother to be married off to anyone, especially if Lukas didn't like that person. This being said, he resolutely refused any and all suitors that showed up, deeming them 'inadequate' to marry his brother.

One day the brothers were in the garden, enjoying the sun and warm temperatures of late spring, when their father opened the door that lead from the main hall to the back garden. Emil frowned slightly in confusion, a flower crown of Mountain Avens adorning his head of shiny silver hair. He finished up the crown of Purple Heather for Lukas before getting up to see what their father wanted.  
Lukas slipped the crown onto his head and smiled gently at his cute little brother as he got up. He already had a feeling that he knew what would happen- recently their father would only interrupt them if suitors had come, or had returned.  
"Boys, two new suitors have come to ask for Lukas's hand. I have informed them of the condition, but they seem undaunted. Clearly they've either got much confidence, or have never met Emil." He responded with a small chuckle. He loved his children dearly, and wished nothing but their happiness, which was why Emil's ardent refusal didn't bother him.  
Emil frowned more, rather upset at the audacity of these new suitors for interrupting. His eyebrows pinched in irritation, though he'd excuse it this once, since there really wasn't any way they could have known this was the time he and Lukas set aside for being together. Since Lukas was 18 and Emil was only 12, they each had separate things that were expected of them- though Emil didn't have much to do until dealing with the suitors became an issue.

Emil walked into the throne room, where the suitors were waiting. One wielding a large battle axe, had spiked blonde hair, striking blue eyes, armor, and over all, he was Danish, which didn't sit well with Emil. He didn't like Danes, not at all. Especially since Lukas had been injured by Danes before. He shot the Dane a nasty look before looking at the other one- this one had eyes green as Emeralds, messy blonde hair half obscured by a black traveler's cloak, and what on earth was on his face? Caterpillars? Wait- were those eyebrows!?  
Emil was in shock, usually out of the suitors at least one looked promising. These two weren't even trying. He automatically hated both of them.

"Those are very pretty flowers in your hair," the green-eyed one began, "What's your name, little girl?"

Emil glared darkly at him as the Dane laughed loudly

"I am Prince Emil, bjáni. (byaoni | stupid; twit)" he responded, looking up as his brother finally appeared after talking with their father. "I don't like them." He said bluntly

"What? But we haven't done anything wrong yet- oh, well I haven't." The Dane chuckled.

"You are a Dane, and you are too confident. I don't like you." Emil responded, standing next to his brother.

"Lillebror(little brother), maybe you should try getting to know them before you pass judgment." Lukas said, patting his younger brother's shoulder and smiling gently, though his expression turned emotionless and cold the moment he looked at the suitors, "Introduce yourselves."

Both suitors immediately shut up and bowed, the boisterous Dane introducing himself first:  
"My name is Mathias Khøler, a wanderer from Denmark. I heard tales about you and your beauty, kindness, and skill on the battlefield-"

"Mathias, you should be addressing my Lillebror, not me." Lukas corrected, "He's who you need to convince."

Mathias blinked, and looked down, meeting Emil's icy purple-eyed glare. "I- of course." He smiled, though the fact that the kid looked so angry for no reason was concerning. What was with this kid? "I think that your brother is amazing and beautiful-'

"So does half the kingdom, not to mention foreign suitors. You think you're special?" Emil snapped, "I've heard enough. You?" He glanced at the green-eyed man, already mad at him.

He bowed, "I apologise for earlier, Prince Emil, I am Arthur Kirkland, and this-" he moved his cloak, revealing a boy around Emil's age, Oriental in lineage, if one were to guess from appearance, and dressed in a burgundy travelling cloak, like Arthur, though underneath it, Chinese style clothing was easily visible. The boy had a blank expression, much like Lukas's, though it strangely seemed more expressive, probably due to his eyes- they seemed to burn with emotion. "This is Leon. He's my half-brother." The boy looked irritated as he looked up at Arthur, "Wǒ jiào lǐ xiǎo, yúchǔn (my name is Li, stupid)."  
Arthur gave him a disapproving glance, which Emil didn't forget to note. "We come from the kingdom of Great Britain, I heard that Prince Lukas, your brother knew magic, and I seek the companionship of someone like myself." He bowed, "I would be honored to marry your brother, and I respect both his consideration in picking someone you like, and the love you show in turning away anyone you don't think is compatible."

Emil paused slightly, "You've got quite a way with words for a hálfviti(half wit)." He said coldly, then looked up at his brother, "Should we continue our together time, or spend it with them? It's rather rude to turn them away after just meeting them." He said, and glanced at the three, his gaze meeting that of Li Xiao. He hadn't been around children his age much, and he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't curious. Being a Prince also meant that if he did go out and try to play with other kids, they were intimidated by him and probably wouldn't actually play with him. 'On a more serious note, Arthur seems to actually care about Lukas, as opposed to the others... Most other suitors treat Lukas like a prize to be won instead of a real person, and as a result, they treat me like a barrier between them and their prize. Arthur is right. I love my brother too much to allow that...' He blinked, suddenly remembering something. "Oh, I think Mr. Puffin is still outside-" he put a hand to his flower crown to prevent it from falling as he ran outside to find his friend.  
Lukas smiled slightly and motioned for the three others to follow him outside.  
Emil was sitting among the flowers, hugging his pet puffin and stroking his feathers. The puffin climbed up to sit on his head and Emil looked over at the Newcomers, "Lukas! Mr. Puffin said he found an abandoned clutch of eggs.

Mathias laughed, "A bird can't talk- what are you talking about, kid?"

"I can talk more than ya think." Mr. Puffin hissed quietly so that only Emil could hear, "More suitors, brat?"  
Emil nodded to his friend discreetly and frowned at Mathias, "He doesn't talk around other people. Especially people he doesn't like." He said simply, getting up and walking over, he noticed Li yet again and tilted his head at him, "Halló? Your name is Li, right?"  
"Li Xiao." Li Xiao corrected, though he didn't seem annoyed by being called Li.  
"May I call you Li?" He asked, wanting to make sure, since he would most likely mess up and call him Li on accident. Either that or completely butcher the pronunciation of Xiao. He waited silently for the other boy's response, which ended up being a curt nod.  
Emil smiled slightly, and held his hand out to Li, "I'm Emil." he looked away, "Though you probably already knew that…"  
Li nodded, but accepted his hand, though he didn't know what to do with it, so he just held it awkwardly.  
Emil blinked in slight surprise when Lukas frowned and pulled his arm back, unsure of how he felt about his little brother's new friend.  
"Prince Emil? Just out of curiosity, what is your favorite color?" Arthur asked.  
"Light blue. Why?" Emil tilted his head in confusion.  
Arthur held out his hand, producing a blue flame with magic.  
Emil watched the flame flicker and grow, forming multiple complex designs. He enjoyed watching people use magic, it always seemed so fun to him.  
Lukas smiled slightly when he noticed, and joined in, using ice magic to reflect the light and made the ice look like crystal. Emil glanced over at Li, who looked enraptured by the floating fire and ice. It made him smile to see Li look so happy now when he was so emotionless before.  
Mathias frowned, seeing everyone but him joining in to amuse the younger kids, so he hurried over and hugged Lukas from behind, breaking his concentration causing the ice to fall  
Emil frowned, dusting the ice shards off of him, and glanced over, unsure of what to think.  
Mathias gave Lukas a bouquet of flowers and spun him around happily.  
"I got these for you on the way here."  
Lukas glanced at them, then looked at him, merely replying with "Thanks."

During the weeks that followed, Mathias showered Lukas with gifts and attention, whereas Arthur focused on actually getting to know the brothers.

Emil sat off to the side as he watched Lukas and Arthur. He had gotten much closer to Li over the days, and the two were now best friends.  
"Li, do you think Arthur truly loves my brother?" He asked quietly as he watched the two play with magical creatures, Lukas now holding Arthur's familiar, a green winged rabbit named Flying Mint Bunny, and smiling. Lukas hardly ever smiled when it didn't involve Emil, which is why Emil had mixed feelings. He still didn't like any of Lukas's suitors, but if Lukas liked- actually liked one of them, who was he to stand in the way?  
Li put a hand on Emil's shoulder and patted it lightly, "He does from what he's told me. He, like, wrote poetry for him and all that cheesy stuff too."  
Emil silently processed this information, watching in confusion as Mathias walked over.  
"What's he doing?"  
Li's expression darkened, "I don't know, but I do know what he's holding. I only know one person who writes like that..."  
Emil narrowed his eyes at Mathias as he listened to what was being said.  
The Dane cleared his throat loudly before beginning,  
"You are my Sun, my moon,  
You're my words, you're my tune,  
My earth, my sky, my sea,  
You're everything to me."  
Arthur looked absolutely pissed, and for good reason. The poem Mathias was reading to win over Lukas had been written by him.  
"You're my light in the darkness,  
You're my peace and happiness,  
My hope, my forever love."  
Lukas waited quietly until he finished before standing and walking over to him. All of a sudden, there was a harsh slapping sound, and Mathias was knocked backwards.  
He sat there stunned, touching his cheek where Lukas had slapped him, staring at him in a daze.  
"You really shouldn't claim work that isn't yours." Was Lukas's only response for his actions, though he didn't seem that mad outwardly.  
Emil was surprised that Mathias had been let off so easily, usually Lukas was strict on things like that.  
"Do you think Lukas likes Mathias?" He asked Li, wanting another opinion.  
"I don't know your brother, like, at all, but I wouldn't smack the person I like." Li responded.  
"Lukas shows affection in odd ways sometimes, and he can't stand plagiarism. A slap like that is merciful compared to what he otherwise would have done.. That's why I'm confused. He seems to like them both, you know?"  
Li nodded, "Don't worry, Emil, you'll like,figure something out."  
"I hope so.." Emil muttered, going over the last few weeks in his head.  
Mathias had given Lukas flowers every day, but so had Arthur, all of them had been replanted in the garden.  
Arthur had managed to get Lukas to smile, which was impressive, but Lukas seemed to spend more time around Mathias.  
Both of them spent a fair amount of time around Emil, but Arthur seemed to catch onto how Emil felt, and left him alone when he wanted space, or to be alone with his brother.  
Mathias was annoying most of the time, but he was funny sometimes and had defended him once when someone (it wasn't Arthur this time) mistook him for a girl.

These musings occupied his thoughts all the way up to lunch, where he was seated between Mathias and Lukas, and across from Li.  
Arthur was the first to notice that something was off, and spoke up, "Emil, are you alright? You've hardly touched your food.. "  
"Yeah! Arthur didn't make it this time! It's safe to eat!" Mathias chimed, laughing when he received a glare from Arthur.  
"Lillebror?" Emil looked up, noticing the worry in his brother's voice.  
"It's nothing, Lukas..."  
"Oh, hey Emil!" Mathias said after having finished teasing Arthur about his horrible cooking skills, "Have you chosen who Lukas will marry yet?" He asked with a smile, blue eyes shining with excitement.  
"Of course I haven't, I would have announced it if I had.." he sent a frown Mathias's way for insinuating that he was irresponsible enough not to announce something like that.  
"I have to admit, I am curious. Surely there's one you favor, isn't there?" Arthur asked, resting his cheek on his palm.  
"Arthur lay off, he like, said he doesn't know." Li said, trying to get them off of Emil's case.  
"No, bushy brows is right, you have to favor one of us, right? I bet it's me!~" Mathias said happily.  
"No way, obviously I'm better suited." Arthur frowned at Mathias,  
"You? Hah! Nice try! You like me most, don't you, Emil?"  
"No, Emil likes me more!"  
"I'm 100 times better than you, Arty~"  
"Shut up, don't call me that! Emil, just tell us which you like more."  
"Yeah, show this poser wrong, Emil."  
Emil closed his eyes and tried to ignore the squabbling over which he liked more, his stress level rising every time they pressed him for an answer. He felt arms circle around him and something warm and wet roll down his cheek. He looked up at his brother, eyes silently pleading him to help.  
"Emil?" He asked, wiping away the tear.  
Lukas hadn't meant it to sound like he wanted an answer, but it was enough to push Emil over the edge.

"I DON'T KNOW YET! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Emil hissed, turning and running out of the room, crying.  
Once he left, the room turned deathly silent. "Like, what is wrong with you two! He was already stressed about it! Why would you do that!? Are you like, complete idiots!?"  
That seemed to snap them out of their trance and both Arthur and Mathias got up to go follow Emil, Li being already halfway to the doorway.  
Lukas put an arm out to stop Arthur, Mathias, and more specifically Li, from following Emil, "I'll handle this.." He said.

Emil ran through the building until he reached the garden outside, once there, he sat down among the flowers and tried to focus, tried to figure out what to do, and above all, tried to calm down.

"Lukas looks like he really likes both of them.. what do I do... Which one am I supposed to pick..." Emil cried softly to himself, "What if I choose the wrong one? What if Lukas is miserable because I screwed up...I wouldn't be able to live with myself..." Warm tears ran down his cheeks, and he pulled his knees to his chest, trying to make sense of it.

"Brat? Brat, are you crying?" Mr. Puffin asked, flying down next to Emil and nudging his leg with his beak. "What happened? Was it that Dane? I can beat him up for ya." He paused only to watch Emil shake his head, "Are ya worried about who to pick? Maybe ya should just ask Lukas's troll friend fer advice? I mean he'd know better than me. Yer brother confuses me."  
Emil nodded slightly, picking Mr. Puffin up as he stood, "Do you know where he is?" He asked quietly.  
"In the forest, like always. He can't fit in the house." Mr. Puffin said, gesturing to the forest just beyond the garden with his wing.  
Emil nodded and started off into the forest, making sure no one was following him before disappearing into the thick foliage.

Before long he had found his brother's troll friend, hidden in a cave near the side of the forest. He was reasonably nervous- Norwegian trolls were known to be viscous, even though he knew that this one wasn't. He approached nervously, looking up at him, and while the troll was looking right at him, it didn't react. It probably thought that he couldn't actually see it, which was understandable, he hadn't shown that he could before now, so he nervously cleared his throat and asked the most stupid question he would probably ever ask. "Um.. Halló... Are you my brother's troll friend."  
The troll tilted his head, "You can see me?"  
Emil nodded, "I came to ask you something about Lukas… It has to do with the issue of suitors.."  
The troll nodded in understanding, "What do you need, little one?" it asked.  
"Well… My brother seems to really like both Mathias and Arthur, and I don't know who I'm supposed to pick. I still don't particularly like either of them, but that's got nothing to do with how Lukas feels. I'd rather him marry someone he loves rather than just some random guy that I like… But that is the problem. He likes both of the new suitors, and I can't tell who he likes more..."  
"Little one, I think you are overcomplicating the situation. For starters, he didn't really care who he married as long as you like them. He trusts your judge of character. Also, If you want to know which he favors, just ask him. It's not like he'd lie to you." the troll responded before putting his hand down near Emil's feet, "now come, it's dangerous out here. You could have gotten hurt, and I don't think that Lukas would be happy if you got hurt."  
Emil looked at the trolls hand hesitantly for a moment before climbing on and holding on tight since he knew that they would be moving. It was a surprisingly smooth ride, considering that he was being carried by a giant troll. Peeking out over the troll's fingers, he could see the roof of the house through the trees, though as he got closer and broke the treeline, he noticed his brother outside looking for him.  
Lukas sighed in relief, holding his arms out to pick Emil up out of the troll's hand once it was lowered.  
"He has something he wanted to talk to you about." The troll said as it straightened back up and began to walk back to his cave.  
Lukas raised an eyebrow and looked down at Emil expectantly.  
Emil looked down for a second, thinking of how to word it, "Well... I just noticed that you seem to like both of them, and now I don't know which one to choose.. I don't want to mess up.. so I guess my question is 'Which one do you like more?'"  
Lukas smiled gently at him, "Well, for starters, what do you think of them. Be honest."  
"Mathias is... Extremely annoying and is really rude sometimes. He thinks I'm crazy because of Mr. Puffin, and picks on me about it..." Emil began, thinking about the various things that they had done and how he felt as a result,  
"Arthur is... Eh. I just don't like him. I mean he thought I was a girl! He's annoying, though not as annoying as Mathias, and he kinda just rubs me the wrong way..."  
Lukas nodded, "Well, I only like Mathias as a friend." He clarified, ruffling Emil's hair, "Sorry for confusing you, lillebror."  
Emil smiled slightly, "So you like Arthur, then?" He asked, just to make sure.  
Lukas smiled gently and nodded.  
"Then he has my acceptance. I may not like him, but if he makes you happy, that's enough for me." Emil smiled and hugged Lukas, who returned it.

A few days, almost a week, later, and the wedding had been planned. It was a rather large wedding, seeing as all of the subjects wanted to see just who had gotten through to both of the icy princes. They were surprised to say the least. No one had expected the one that would win over Emil and marry Lukas would look like that, but regardless they were married, and no one seemed to notice that Emil was anything but happy. Once he got the chance, he hid behind a tree, since the wedding had been outdoors, and pulled his legs up to his chest, resting his chin on top of his crossed arms. From time to time he'd glance over at the party, but he hadn't thought that anyone had noticed him until,  
"Emil? Are you like, okay?" Li asked, standing directly next to where he was sitting, causing him to jump from surprise.  
"Li? Wha- I'm fine!" He insisted, lying through his teeth.  
"Mmhmm... Like, I don't believe you. Why aren't you having fun with the others?"

"You feel like Lukas is going to forget about you, like, don't you?"  
Emil's head snapped up to look at him. It was almost scary how Li could read him so easily.  
Li shook his head, "He loves you too much to do that to you. And besides," He sat down next to Emil and put his hand on Emil's, "Now that Arthur and Lukas are married, I'll like, never have to leave, and I won't forget about you." He promised, a small smile on his face.  
And they all lived happily ever after.

* * *

A/N: Yo Halló there. I wrote this for a class, actually. We were told to write a Fairytale, and so this... Just kinda happened. I don't think it fits the time period, but it's pretty good otherwise. I just kinda randomly picked an old Norse name for their father, it's not that important. HongIce ftw! Nah, but I really like HongIce. My Norway helped me a bit with the England and Norway in this- I don't ship it, but I included it for him. c: I love you, big brother!

His account name is Norwhal, if you're interested


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